


The Room Upstairs

by laideur



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 03:07:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10208081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laideur/pseuds/laideur
Summary: Why there's no bed in Watson's room in the Sherlock Holmes Museum (via an ancient kinkmeme prompt)





	

he attic room was frigid in the winter and damp in the spring, and Mrs Hudson had her hands full enough with one lodger, so when Mr Holmes remarked offhandedly that the doctor would like extra eggs with breakfast, she was somewhat startled. Mr Holmes had visitors at all odd hours, but surely she would notice someone else living in her own house. And yet he continued to speak of a new flatmate, a doctor and a soldier, who occupied the room above his own.

Mrs Hudson never saw this man, and the only possible conclusion was that he did not exist. That Holmes was mad was unquestionable. But he didn't seem dangerous. And he always paid his bills. 

For all the food that Mr Holmes ordered for himself and Dr Watson, he did not gain a scrap of weight. Often, she would ask Mr Holmes what he wanted for dinner and he would respond, "Nothing for me, thank you, but Watson will have something."

Once she had tried to entice Mr Holmes to describe his friend. He said very little, but she did not wish to hear more. 

As time went on she started avoiding looking at the door to the attic stairs, and hurrying past it while going about her household duties. She dreaded seeing it open. One night in autumn when she was returning home from a church fete, she happened to notice a faint light coming from the attic window. And what she tried to avoid noticing was the dark form that passed behind the curtain.

Finally she asked the question that had been nagging at her mind the most, one which she hoped might provoke her lodger out of his delusion. "There's no bed in that room, Mr Holmes. Where does Dr Watson sleep?"

"He doesn't," Holmes replied quietly, and puffed his pipe, staring blankly into the shadows.


End file.
